A Pause for Practice

Practice Range
Bensalem Township Country Club
200 Brown Ave.
Bensalem, PA
215/639-5556

On Sunday, I had planned to play a round at The Fairways Golf Club. But based on my results from Friday's round at Limelikn Golf Club, I decided some practice would be better. So I packed my clubs into the SUV and headed over to the practice ranged at Bensalem Township Country Club.

The Practice Range at Bensalem

I grabbed a small bucket of balls and found an open spot on the range. After some stretching, I warmed up by hitting 10 balls with my 56-degree sand wedge. I put a yardstick down to help with my alignment as I proceed to hit 30 balls with my TaylorMade Aero Burner Driver. At first, I hit some fades; my draw still eluding me with this new driver. While I did hit some long drives with a slight draw, I continued to hit a lot more duck hooks than I would like. I believe the problem may be that the driver, which is 45.75-in., is just a bit too long for me to control properly. I don't think I am able to properly square the club face at this length, which is causing me to hit the fade or slice, and to hook it as I try to force the ball the draw.

On the Practice Green

I have begun to research cutting it down to 45-in. So far, my research indicated that cutting three-quarters of an inch off the butt end and re-gripping it will not seriously effect the the shaft's flex or the overall distance of my drives. The shorter length should allow me to better control my drives and hit more fairways. I will try to pick up a Winn Dri-Tac grip--the same grip presently on the driver--so I can cut it down later this week.

The Big Putt Practice Ball

After hitting balls with my driver, I headed over to the practice green to work on my putting. I have been missing far too many short putts, which is turning 3s, 4s and 5s into 5s, 6s and 7s on my scorecard. I spent about 20 minutes practicing short putts with The Big Putt, an over-sized ball that weighs the same as a regulation golf ball. The Big Putt is 1.95-in in diameter, whereas a golf is 1.68-in. The theory is that after putting with the larger ball, the hole will look bigger with a regular golf, instilling more confidence over short putts. Hopefully, the additional practice on the greens will pay off in my next round.

Scores and Temps are High at Limekiln

Limekiln Golf Club
Ambler, Pa
Yards: 3059 (Blue)/2864 (Red) - 5960
Par: 35/35 - 70
Rating: 67.9, Slope: 117
Score: 55/47 = 102
Date: June 12, 2015

The first heat wave of the season had settled over the Delaware Valley as I teed it up for the first time ever at Limekiln Golf Club. Founded by Philadelphia Phillies' 1905s Whiz Kids Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons, the course has 27 holes located on Limekiln Pike in Ambler, Pa. The course was in excellent shape and we got an excellent deal from GolfNow; only $25 plus cart.

I teed off with my cousin at 11:45 a.m. on the Blue Nine as temperatures climbed into the mid-90s, with very high humidity. We were joined by a husband-wife pairing of Larry and David. I had a lot of confidence in my game after the 42 on the bank nine at Neshaminy Valley last Sunday, but I struggled off the tee from the start, hitting my opening right to the right and narrowly avoiding the woods on the dogleg left. I played army golf through the front nine, hitting tee shots left and right throughout. Even when I did manage to put my ball in the fairway, I followed it up with a poor approach shot, pitch or chip. And my putting wasn't much better, missing several short putts. I ended the front nine with a bogey 6 at the Par 5 Ninth Hole after missing another short par putt. It left me with a very disappointing 55.

Limekiln Scorecard - Blue/Red

The back nine, played on the Red Nine, didn't start off any better as I hit a tree on the left side of the fairway after hitting my 4-wood off the tee. My play got a little better as I started hitting my driver better off the tee, but it seemed like I couldn't put two decent shots together and I continued to struggle on Limekiln's greens. My one good hole of the day came at the 418-yard Par 4 Fifth Hole on the White Nine. I blasted my driver 271 to the middle of the fairway, leaving me just 147 yards to the green. I then hit a 7-iron to 15-feet behind the hole and two-putted for my only par of the day. As the back nine went on, I was getting longer and more consistent with my driver off the tee, so I'm hoping that I'm starting to adjust to the TaylorMade Aero Burner. My back nine was a 47, an eight stroke improvement over the front nine, but it still left me with a 102 for my round.

Happy in the Valley

Neshaminy Valley Golf Club
Jamison, Pa.
Yards: 3338/2676 - 6014
Par: 36/34 - 70
Rating: 68.7, Slope: 118
Score: 50/42 = 92
Date: June 7, 2015

My second round of 2015 was at Neshaminy Valley Golf Golf and it was a tale of two 9s. On the front 9, I couldn't find the fairway on the Par 4s and 5s and I couldn't hit a green on the Par 3s. The only two times I put the ball in the fairway, on the Par 4 Fifth Hole and the Par 5 Ninth, I reached the green in regulation and walked off with a par. I also had 3 bogeys, two double-bogeys, a triple-bogey and a quadruple-bogey at the long 219-yard Par 3 Sixth Hole. It all added up to a frustrating 50 on the first nine holes.

The Scorecard of Neshaminy Valley

Going to the back nine, I was just looking for a bit more consistency off the tee and a little better course management. So naturally, I sliced my tee shot at the Tenth Hole across the Eleventh fairway and had and uphill shot to the green. Just trying to hit the ball up near the green, I hit my 7-iron just to the right of the green, pin high. I flopped on and sunk a 20-foot, let-to-right putt for an unlikely par! I hacked the ball around on the next hole for another triple-bogey, but I felt I was suddenly hitting the ball much better. I ran off a string of consecutive 4s that included a par at downhill, slight dogleg right Twelfth Hole and my first birdie of the season at the 473-yard Par 5 Fourteenth Hole. I double-bogey at the Sixteenth was followed by bogeys on the last two holes and a back nine 42 for a total of 92. My scorecard on the back nine included six 4s, a 5, a 6 and a 7.

The 219-yard Par 3 Sixth Hole

I was really happy with how I turned around a disappointing front nine to shoot a pretty good back nine and post a very respectable score. I had some significant changes to my club set-up from my opening round of the season at Mountain View Golf Club. I replaced my Wilson Staff Smooth Driver with a TaylorMade Aero Burner, and my Callaway fairway woods are gone in favor of an oldie but goodie: an Adams Redline RPM 4-wood. I also put an old Elevon Tour 20-degree hybrid in the bag, along with an Alphia Golf Rx 4-hybrid. My 5 thru Gap Wedge are still Wilson Staff Ci7s and my two additional wedges--53- and 56-degrees--are still Solus. I also returned my Snaked Eyes MCS2 blade putter to the bag, this time with a new Super Stroke Slim 3.0 grip. I like the versatility of this set-up and hope it continues to provide me low scores.

The 473-yard Par 5 Fourteenth Hole

Neshaminy Valley, a public course, was in pretty good shape, although the greens were spotty and bumpy. At $27 to walk on a Sunday afternoon, I thought it was a good bargain. Play was a bit slow on the front nine, but moved along well on the back.

Looking to Make My Stroke Super

A few years ago I went to a larger grip on my putters in an effort to improve my stroke on the greens. I like the way the larger grips feel in my hands and the way they keep my wrists from breaking down during my stroke. I had been using a Winn Jumo Lite Grip, but as I posted last August, I went even bigger to a Winn ProX 1.60.

During first round of the season two weeks ago, I went back to a putter that had the Jumbo Lite Grip and results were okay, but still not the consistency I was hoping before. Scheduled to play at Neshaminy Valley Golf Club tomorrow after, I decided it was time for another change. Tonight I took my Snake Eyes MCS2 putter to Dicks Sporting Goods and had a Super Stroke Slim 3.0 grip installed. The grip is one of the most popular on the PGA Tour and is used by Jason Dufner, who won the PGA Championship in 2013. I will let you how it turns out.